What's your chronotype? How to find the perfect time to do everything

According to clinical
psychologist and sleep specialist Michael Breus, your genetics can tell you when it’s the perfect time to do just about anything.

“It’s biologically driven. It’s based on your genetics. As a matter of fact, it’s the PER3
gene that actually the length of it tells us a lot about what time you want to
sleep and how much you want to sleep,” Breus explained on “CBS This
Morning” Wednesday. In his new book, “The Power of When: Discover
Your Chronotype,” Breus explains how matching your schedule to your
chronotype can help you live a healthier, more productive life.

People often identify
as “early birds” or “night owls,” but Breus said there are
more chronotypes -- a classification of the general timing of your biological
clock.

“So if you knew
the best time to do any one of [these] activities during the day -- whether it’s
ask your boss for a raise, have a cup of coffee, even have sex – if you knew when
was the right time to do that… based on your chronotype, you would reach
optimal performance,” Breus said.

A simple quiz can tell
you which of the four categories you fall under: lion, bear, wolf and
dolphin.

“CBS This Morning”
co-host Norah O’Donnell is a lion, which Breus describes as the leaders and
CEOs.

Lion

“These are my people that
like to go from A to B to C. They like to kind of have things in a very particular
order, don’t like to deviate,” Breus explained. “And are very early risers.”

Bear

Meanwhile, co-host
Gayle King is a bear, or the extroverts that people “want to hang out with.” Breus describes bears as the “glue of society.”

Wolf

“Wolves are night
owls. I’m actually a wolf and so I like to stay up late and I used to like to
sleep in, but I don’t need a tremendous amount of sleep,” Breus said.

Dolphin

“[Dolphins] are
my highly intelligent but problem sleepers. These people have a little bit of
obsessive-compulsive to them, so much to the point that sometimes they don’t
get stuff done,” Breus said.

Chronotypes can also come in
handy when finding a partner. For example, Breus explained that lions and
wolves don’t go very well together because of their different sleep schedules.

“If you’re a lion and
you’re an early riser, by 8:30 [p.m.] you’re done,” Breus said. “If you’re a wolf, that’s the
time you’re ready to get going.”

With light therapy and
tweaking your sleep schedule, you can adjust your lifestyle to fit your chronotype. But it can also shift with age.

“By the time I
hit 50, 55, I’m going to start to move more into a dolphin or lionesque stage ... because there’s a depletion of melatonin as we age,” Breus
said.

While Breus said you
do not have to live accordingly to your chronotype, he said that “it works
out well.”